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Interview with Ode Bryson

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Interview with Ode Bryson

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Interview with Ode Bryson

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  • Bryson and Bryson 1 WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA TOMORROW BLACK ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Interviewee: Mr. Ode Bryson Also present: Mrs. Hattie Bryson Interviewer: Lorraine Crittendon (I) County: Jackson Date: May 15, 1986 Duration: Lorraine Crittendon: Has your family always lived in North Carolina? Hattie Bryson: Always. I: Where in North Carolina? HB: Well, just different places. I: Do you remember any of the places? HB: We lived in Bryson City for a while. Ode Bryson: We lived in Bryson City for a while. I: You lived in Bryson City? OB: Lived there now three years. I: Three years. HB: And the rest of the time here in Sylva, where I've got all my children. [inaudible] OB: [Bubba? Hattie?] lived here all of her life except what time we wasn't--gone away from home. I: So your home was Sylva, other than three years in Bryson City. OB: Yes. I: Did your grandparents always live in North Carolina? OB: Uh-huh, yeah. I: Okay. Will you please trace your family tree as far back as you can remember, beginning with your father's people. Bryson and Bryson 2 OB: These Rogers--that's my father's people- I: What's the full name? OB: My daddy's name? George. His name was George. I: All right, now, what was your grandfather's name? OB: His name was George, Old Man [inaudible] George. There were three Georges in that family. I: Oh, I see. So he was George, Senior, that's your grandfather. Now, where does he live? OB: He's just dead. My grandfather died when- I: George Roberts? OB: They're all dead. I: He's dead, but where did he live? OB: He lived Cullowhee. I: In Cullowhee. What did he do for a living? OB: He farmed. I: He farmed. OB: I remember seeing him one time. I was a little bitty thing, don't know much about him. I: So you were small when he died? OB: Yeah, I was just about like this when my grandfather died. I: What do you remember about your grandfather? OB: Well, that's all I remember. Deacon [inaudible]. Except that I saw him one time and he squatted down there and kissed me. That's as far as I ever saw him. I: So you didn't get to see your grandparents much? OB: No. We started up there to his funeral. We started walking out to the river and met somebody told me, says, "Done buried him." Bryson and Bryson 3 I: So he was burying him before you got to see him? OB: Uh-huh, yeah. Didn't know about it till late Sunday morning and it was too late to getting up there. And we started walking down to Cullowhee, that was the only way to get there, no way to ride, me and-- I: So you were going to walk from Sylva to Cullowhee. OB: We started. I: Do you remember when he died? OB: No'm, I don't. I: If you started out on a Sunday… No one got word to you that he died before they buried him? OB: We started to walking up there Sunday morning. I don't know the day of the month or nothin' when he died. I: What do you remember about your grandmother? OB: Well, I've seen her about, Grandma, I saw her about twice to know her. I: What was her name? OB: Sis. I: Sis? OB: Sis Rogers. I: Sis Rogers. What was she before she married? OB: She was a Gibbs. I: Gibbs? I: Were any of your foreparents slaves? OB: Not as I knows of. I: Any of your other relatives? OB: If they did, I never did hear anything about, not. They're bound to been, way back yonder. I just don't know. Bryson and Bryson 4 I: Does any one name come to your mind when I say slave? OB: Well, I reckon he was about the only one I know-- I: Now, what was his name? OB: Rand Bryson. I: Rand--? OB: Randall Bryson. I: Randall Bryson. OB: That's the only one I ever remember talk about being a slave. I: Did you know him very well? OB: I knowed him well. I: Do you know who his master was? OB: I sure don't. I: What do you remember about your grandmother? OB: I won't know a thing in the world about her. She's… I never sit with my family much up yonder. [inaudible] HB: You say your Grandma out here? OB: Oh, oh, on my mother's side? I: No, we're still talking about your father's, on your father's side. So you didn't know his side very well. HB: No, I didn't. I: Well, let's talk about your mother's parents. HB: My daddy, his mother was a Hale [Hill?], Mary Hale. She come out of South Carolina. She was a White woman. She married a Bryson up on the rivers. I: So your father's mother was White, and she came out of South Carolina and married a Bryson? OB: She married a Bryson, on the river. Bryson and Bryson 5 I: Up on the river. OB: That's all I can. I: Remember about the grandmother? OB: Remember about that. I: Was your grandfather a white man? OB: Rogers. No, he's just about half and… lots of white blood in him. I: He was half white and half black. OB: Yes, he was. I: What else can you tell me? OB: That's all I can tell you. I: Do you know about your father's people? Or your mother's people? HB: No. We know about your mother's people. We don't… OB: Oh, my mother's people. My mother's, her mother, they called her Mary Bryson. My grandfather Adam, that's her husband. I: Adam? OB: Yes'm. I: Now, where did they live. HB: They lived out here on the curve. OB: They lived on the curve out here. I: Isn't that called Chipper Curve Road? HB: Yeah. That's right. I: Tell me what you remember about your mother's people. How did your grandfather and grandmother earn a living? OB: Well, all I know is they just raised me up. My mother time, mostly. Bryson and Bryson 6 I: Your mother did what, now? OB: They all lived together. They stayed with my grandmother until later years. Then she moved out. I don't know nothing about their background. I: You don't know how Adam Bryson, your grandfather, earned a living? HB: We know where he worked. I: Where did he work? OB: Oh, he farmed mostly. I: He farmed? OB: That's about what we… I'll tell you, yeah, later there was work on the railroad. I: And then he worked on the railroad? OB: That's what they said to me, yeah. Laid the steel, they worked up there on this track. In later years they moved to Bryson City down there and worked for that lawyer Thad Bryson for a long time. I: What did he do for him? OB: Farmed for him down there. I: So he farmed for Judge Thad Bryson in Bryson City? OB: That's right. I: Now, how was he paid for this work? OB: You mean how did they pay him? I: Yes, sir. OB: Well, they didn't pay him much, just a small salary. I don't remember how much it was. I: Well, did they share what your father produced, what he grew? HB: Back home four or five kids I: So you think your father was a sharecropper. He took care of the crops and then it was divided between his family and the Bryson family. Bryson and Bryson 7 OB: He took the first garden [inaudible] down there but lived up there at Addie. I: Addie Community? OB: Up there at Addie Community, lives up there on that big farm. Then he planted a [inaudible] garden [inaudible] and carried it down to his farm. I: So how long did he work there? OB: He stood with 'em three years. I: Three years? Were you in Bryson City, too? OB: Yes, we were all down there together. We lived up there above the old Baptist Church at Bryson, just across from old man Jim Biork's place. I: Beside my grandfather--my great grandfather. OB: We carried water out of that spring over there. I: Did you? That was some good water. OB: Yeah. I was pretty small then. I: Well, after you left Bryson City, did you come back to Sylva? OB: Come back to Sylva. I: And then what did he do? OB: He got a job with this tannery down yonder in town. He worked at this tannery a long time. I: Did he live in a company house also? OB: No, he lived in his own house. He was renting one over on that creek back by… two-room house. He lived there for a long time. I: He rented at first? OB: Until he built one out the road yonder. I: And then he built a house on Chipper Curve Road. OB: Yeah, stayed there until he died. Bryson and Bryson 8 I: Was the tannery a good job for your grandfather? OB: It was a good job, an inside job. I: Inside job? OB: Yeah. I: It was year-round? OB: Paid off. Yeah, year-round, long as you wanted to stay there. I: Do you remember how much he earned? OB: I believe it was about, probably a dollar or a dollar and a half a day back then. I: Did your grandmother work outside the home? OB: No, she stayed there at home all the time. She was a house woman, she stayed home. I: So your grandfather made enough so that she didn't have to go out and work. OB: That's right. I: Now, you had seven, eight brothers and sisters. Were you all given the opportunity to get an education? OB: Yeah, just about all of them finished up school. I: Where was the school that you attended? OB: Some of them finished up there, but some of them didn't. And some went to… they was going to school right opposite the church up there. They went there Professor Davis. And quick as they got big enough to work, then they'd have to work. I: Where did they work? OB: Different places. I had two boys, two brothers on the railroad. I: But they stayed here in Sylva? OB: No, no, they had these shanty cars they [stayed in Georgia] at nights. I: And they stayed in shanty cars? OB: That's what they did. Bryson and Bryson 9 I: And so they travel on the train? What age were your brothers when they stopped going to school? OB: They must have been round about 16, I guess. They was all small. I: About 16? OB: Somewhere in there. I: Now, how long was the school year? OB: 'Course we had a three-month school up there. And later on then, way later on, the school they raised it up to six months. Next raised it to like it is now. I: Now, were there laws then that said that children had to go to school? OB: No, wasn't no law then, till way later on they made a law they had to go. I: Now, how much education did you get? OB: Me? I: Yes, sir. OB: I just went to the fourth grade. I: Fourth grade? Did you learn to read and write? OB: Get along pretty well. but, not as much as I wanted to have, I had to go to work, to help my mother. See they left these children for all of them, they died. My grandpa and grandma, they died. She had to take care of the children. When she says go to work, well, said we had to go. Do enough to help her. I: So your father's died so your mother had to raise you alone and therefore the boys had to go to work. What did you do? OB: Well, we were small then. I'd go down… lived on the farm up there at [inaudible] and haul corn out that place fifteen cents a day, that's what he give me. I: Now, did you live up there? OB: Lived on their place. I: You lived on their place. Bryson and Bryson 10 OB: My mother did, yeah. I: And then you what, gathered the corn or… OB: Gathered the corn, round and round that big tree all over there, but I: And you were paid fifty cent a day and you stayed there. HB: Fifteen cents a day. I: Oh, fifteen! OB: That's all they got. Now, we thought we had something. It was pretty rough back then. I: Well, on fifteen cents a day, where did you get your clothing and food? OB: Well, I don't know how it come in, but we made it some way or another. Oh, we lived there and the old lady, she give us all the milk and butter and we didn't have nothing like that to buy. We had plenty of corn and wheat suppers and stuff like that. I: So, was your mother living up there, too? OB: Yeah, she was there with us. I: Well, did she work for the family? OB: Went and Pretty tough back then. That was way back in old' Hoover's days, that Democrat president way back years ago. Yea, no, she worked in Sylva town down there. Wash, got 25 cents for a big wash over there. I: What do you remember about the Depression, Mr. Ode? OB: I don't know too much about that. I know that the last subject it was awful. In fact, WPA was on back then. We got about four hours. I worked on WPA jobs about 12 hours a week. I: On WPA. OB: And then they give us… you put that food and stuff out there, potatoes and beans, all kinds of good stuff then. We had plenty of it. We'd had to come home, why, that's all that kept the family going. I: The WPA kept you all, most of the people alive. OB: Yep, most of the people. That's right, sure did. I see a lot of work around here now we had to do when that time was over. Bryson and Bryson 11 I: What did you do? OB: Well, me I'd go out there and use a pick and shovel, carry water, that's about all I I: Were they building? OB: Just worked on these roads, and building rock walls around these graveyards up yonder, all them walls. Just anything to give the people something to do then. Did work hard though. We just out there. I: Do you remember anything about World War I or II? OB: Well, I know a little about the last war but not much about the first one. All I know, it was a pretty tough time back then. I: Was your family affected in any way by the war? Did any of your family members have to go to war? OB: No, not the first one they went to this last one. My boys were overseas. Hal, he was in Germany for a long time. I: So you had sons in World War II. OB: Yeah. Hal and George, and Bob and Doug they was in the Navy. There's four of them. I: Well, did you notice anything different about the living conditions during wartime in the United States, or here in Sylva? OB: Yeah, I think there was a right smart difference in it. I: How was it different? OB: Well (chuckle), that's hard to say. I: Now, what difference did you notice? OB: It was about the work business. Well, we all had jobs and something to eat then. I: So jobs were plentiful. OB: Yeah, they were plentiful, 'cause you'd have to work on a job back then. I: Do you remember anything that happened in Sylva that affected a lot of people? OB: You mean among the people? Bryson and Bryson 12 I: Yes, sir. OB: Well, there was.. You could go anywheres you want to now and you're not bothered. You're welcome, they act like, to the house, to the food, sleep. The only difference I see is and I believe that Whites got it's a whole lot better now that there's a colored [people?] was back there. You go to work with them now, but you can't eat with them. They want you to work for them. So for a long I didn't care nothing about eating with them back then. They going to put you… HB: Now they want you to eat with them, sit with them. --all 'bouts on a table of them. I might not eat with them, ain't a-going to worry with us. I: Do you remember any of your friends leaving Sylva because they couldn't find jobs or because life was too hard here? OB: They was a lot of 'em left town and never come back. I: What were they looking for? OB: Well, more work. I: More work? They left for Detroit, Michigan. I: Went to Michigan? Detroit, Michigan? OB: Yeah, died and buried up there. I: They went to work in the plants? OB: Uh-huh. [pause in tape] And this man she helped him to the back. He says we paid a lot of money for a ticket, says we just want to ride where we want to. He say you go in the back, or I'm not going. Well, this [colored man] he never got on. Says he'll wait on the next bus. I heard that much of it. I: Was life especially hard for black people in Jackson County? OB: I guess so. Well, we've always got, the Blacks get along pretty good with them around here. Now, back up on these rivers here, I wouldn't go up there at all back then. They'd kill you. I: Which river are you referring to? OB: On back up towards Hobbs [inaudible], Cherry back in there back then. But now you can go in and walks where you want to. I: You couldn't go there because you were afraid of being killed? OB: That's right. But they would mess you up, too. Bryson and Bryson 13 I: But you felt fairly safe right here in Sylva. OB: That's right. But now you can go ahead and walks where you want to over there. I: Mr. Ode, what did you do to earn a living for your family? OB: I worked, I worked on… I worked at this tannery down here for a long time, then I'd work off on these other jobs of work. I first took my wife and tell her where we're going had two children and went to Baden, North Carolina, and worked down there for a long time. I: What part of North Carolina? OB: That aluminum [inaudible] plant in Baden, North Carolina. I: Baden? At an aluminum plant? OB: About 30 miles below Salisbury. We worked there a while. Then I come on back here and went to laying blocks and rocks. I was the only colored man that laid rock in this county. I: Where did you learn that trade, to lay rock? OB: Watched the other man, was a helper. I: Was this on another job? OB: I took up the rocks job myself. I: You taught yourself to lay rock? OB: Yeah. I: But you learned from another person to lay block. OB: Just watched him to see what he done and I thought I can do that, too. Now, there was two or three other lots in town I built down there. They're still down there, yeah. I: Which buildings? OB: There's one down there as you're going into town, two block buildings down there. HB: There's one down there that's now the Penland house. OB: Lord, I worked on all those buildings. I: Do you remember the name of the buildings you've built? Bryson and Bryson 14 OB: Built one for a man who was gunna build a store, one for Johnny Parris, one for Ms. R. [Keenlan] I: And these stores, these buildings are still standing? OB: There's one of them still standing that [inaudible] repaired. That one up behind the bank, the bank got that and they tore it down. I: So you taught yourself to lay rock. OB: I liked it. I: And where did you get the rock? OB: They'd always have them hauled, hauled up there and I'd just take the job. I: How many years did you lay rock and block? OB: Oh, Lord, I don't know. Almost just about three years ago I had to quit. I: Up until three years ago? OB: I had to quit then. I: Well, that's amazing! OB: I want to do it now but they won't let me do it. [Chuckle] I: Well, that means you worked until you were 83 years old?! OB: Yeah, I sure did, on up there. That was long about ‘84, it was, no, ‘83, something like that. I: What other work have you done? OB: Just about hurt myself working on these old outlaw jobs, I done a lot of that before me and Hattie married. I: Did you ever work on the railroad? OB: Railroad. Up and down I: Up and down this one in front of your house? OB: On the section. On the old lever car. Bryson and Bryson 15 I: The what? OB: You stop a car back then, lever car. I: A lever car? OB: I worked on that railroad down there. Shore did. I: What did you do? OB: That was just about three, maybe four years till I was married. I handled the cross ties. I: Cross ties? OB: Yeah, helped put in cross ties, keep up the track, picks and shovels. I: You said that you owned one car during your lifetime. How did you and your wife get around to different places? OB: The boys always 'round and had a car like 'at. I never did have no trouble getting around till about two years ago. All them left town who had cars. It's been pretty hard the last year or two. We have some pretty good friends come around. I: Do you own your own home, Mr. Ode? OB: Yeah, owned my own… First built a old house here toward this they had to tear it down. We built the last one in 1925, and we stayed in it till a little over three years ago. It just rotted till we had to move into town. I: Did you build the house? OB: Uh-huh. I: Was it a large house, a small house? OB: I was a-working there at that… used to be a big sawmill where I loaded I: In the sawmill? And you got the lumber from there? OB: Lumber and sheet there. I paid for it. I was making two dollars and a half a day over there. I: And you built your house. OB: I didn't buy no nails. I did buy a dollar's worth. We had I: Where'd you get your nails? Bryson and Bryson 16 OB: Always come through the nail room, where my boss throwed nails out. I: [Laugh] Until you had enough to build your house. OB: I had to buy a dollar's worth. That's all. That's where I got my nails. I: Ah, that's not much is it. A dollar's worth of nails for a house that lasted almost what, 40 years? OB: That's right. About that. I didn't steal, just put 'em in my pocket. [Laughter] I had all kinds of nails, yeah, when I was doing that, had to quit 'cause they were short. I: Now, were you able to give your children a better education than you had? OB: Yeah, all of them got more, and all of them, well all of them finished up. I: All of them finished high school? OB: Yeah. I: Did any of them go to college? OB: Yeah, there was a… Dan he went. I: Dan Bryson? OB: Daniel, my boy. I: Is he your son? OB: Uh-huh. I: Where did he go to school, college? OB: They didn't go to college. They finished up in high school. I: Do they still live around here, in Sylva now? OB: No, just two of the boys there. George, he lives up the road, Bob he works there at Cagle's. One boy's in Atlanta, one's in, Dan's in Morganton. That's all the boys I got, got four boys and one girl. I: You have one daughter? OB: James he died in… we lost three children in five years time. Bryson and Bryson 17 I: What happened? OB: Now, James he got…I don't know whether he lost the use of his legs, he couldn't handle himself. He was sitting out at about 11 years with Hal, and they called me to come after him. About three times that week [unclear - called somebody- - - - we'll be eating lunch at 12 o'clock.] Took that boy home, kept him home, in two weeks he died. OB: What did [END OF SIDE ONE OF TAPE] he couldn't, he just couldn't - I: Did he know what caused him to be paralyzed? OB: I don't know. The boy never said. I: Was he a young man? OB: Oh, yes, he was about 6 years old. Got sick and lost the use of his. Must have been par--. He couldn't walk good, just drag it. They come up, the doctor was going to send him to Asheville on Tuesday, so he died on Saturday. Kept him there two weeks exactly. Went down and got him. Now, Marcy Yates [inaudible] she wasn't sad sick. We went by Friday or Saturday, she lives up on the hill [inaudible] and they said she wasn't feeling so well and said bring a paper bag from the plant [inaudible] from when you come back. We come on back and the boy was there on the porch. He said, "Mama's gone to the Lord " He said, "She's just died a little bit ago before she got to the hospital." I: She hadn't been sick before then? OB: Just kinda ill kinda like but not bad. When I talked to her she got cars just like she always was. I don't know what happened to her, she just mighta had a heart attack. That boy said when he got there, why, she's just a fall dead. He said he come from Georgia for it. We lost three of them in five years time. I: That's sad. [possible pause in tape] So you feel that you were able to give your children a lot more than you were able to have. Did Mrs. Hattie ever work outside the home? OB: Yeah, she worked about all of her life. I: Worked at where? OB: She worked about all her life at different places. I: Different places. So you both worked to support your family? OB: That's right. I: Do you remember church being an important part of your life? Bryson and Bryson 18 OB: Important part of my life? I: Did you always attend Sunday services? OB: Always, whenever I can get a way to get there. If I don't go I don't feel right. I: What religious practices do you remember from your earlier days that we don't practice now? OB: Well, back then we didn't have it like we got now. I: What was it like then? OB: You mean practices? Well, all I can think of is we didn't have these places to go to or nothing like that. We didn't have much… no ball game, nothing like that back then, no tennis or nothing. Did play baseball, all the ball I ever played. I: So are you saying that, other than playing baseball, the church was, besides religious, that it was a social outlet, a social occasion, going to church? OB: Well, we'd be out there playing ball because that was the only place we had to go to much back then. HB: We didn't play no ball on Sunday. We didn't play no ball on Sunday. I: You didn't play ball on Sunday? OB: Huh-urn, they wouldn't let you. I: Well, were you in church all day Sunday? OB: Sunday morning. You go Sunday morning then there's half of the evenings. Now, I first played on Sunday. They'd never let us to play ball on Sunday, not like now. I: Did you ever play baseball? OB: I used to play. I: Were you on a team? OB: I was on a lot of teams when going to school… I: When you were going to school. OB: was all the ball games I played. Oh, we like to go and see the other man play, but. Bryson and Bryson 19 I: What else about church do you remember as different now than it was then? OB: In a way, I just don't believe that they're… it's not going exactly like it used to be. Now, we used to have good deacons on the deacon board, good members. You got sick, they'd go around and see you and see if you needed any help, helping hand, like that. If a man's out there and no crop, they'd come help you out in it. If a man's wife or mother was sick, they'd come out there and see if you needed a helping hand, get the wash done, keep the house straight. They'd do that. But now times, they'll wait till you get in the hospital before they'll go and see you. Won't hardly come home. Now, right up here now, up there at. I: C. J. Harris? OB: Yeah. They were talking about somebody that was sick. I said, "Well, I'll tell you one thing." I said, "The preacher made a rule to go to the hospital." I said, "If I'm sick there at home, if they'd come up to my house, they could see me, 'cause I'm sick they don't come to the hospital." That's what I told 'em. Said the preacher man “They ought not to have made a rule like that.” And one of my men brought back. I don't think they care. As soon as -------- that woman says something about that. I said they just wrong. Used to be our preacher would come to our homes and see us. I says, "They did not wait at the church or community building or service. They'd always come and help her. She'd and they'd go on back. I say they don't do it now. I: So when you were ill the minister would visit the home. OB: That's right. HB: Yeah. They used to come 'round our 'cause they don't do nothing like that any more. OB: They's come here and bring half the community with them. They'd help [inaudible] They like to… the money business has run 'em crazy or something. I: So you think even the ministers are different today. HB: Yes, they're different. There's all the difference. Preacher now. OB: I know when I was small, the preachers they'd come and preach. There wasn't much money to pay 'em. They'd make a big box [of food up], we'd come up and we'd give 'em a pound, these old preachers, they'd take it. I: A pounding. OB: Pounding. If they'd killed a hog, they'd always take a big… just a bunch of stuff any time we had a ham. And now, then, it'll insult them when you do that. I: So they don't practice the pounding anymore. Bryson and Bryson 20 OB: First thing he'll say, he says, “I’ve got something to eat at home." That's what he'll say. that. “I got something to eat at right around here they'll do HB: I got the neighbors here half the time. OB: They all got something to eat. But I was glad to take anything anybody gives me. 'Specially food. [Chuckles] HB: You know people were half dying next door meats[inaudible]. Whenever they would come here, only time they come, sometimes they'd leave a meal here OB: Your neighbor's not right in your door all the time, your neighbor back out yonder somewhere. I: Well, was that different when you were growing up? OB: There was a difference. I: The neighbors… OB: They'd come see us, yeah. I: So they would help you when you needed something. If someone were ill or someone died. OB: That's right. Now, they'll go ahead and turn [their head and look the other way] [Chuckle] I: So you don't think the communities are as close as they used to be. OB: That's right. I: What happened? OB: Well, I'll tell you, we've got some mighty good white folks around here now who've been awfully good to me and Hattie. They'll come here and some of 'em, don't even know 'em. Talk, and talk, and talk, and sometimes get out of breath 'fore they leave, or they'll give Hattie something. There's a [point where you tell Mrs. Morrison about your life], "Now, if you need me for anything at all," says, you just call me." Says, "I'll come and help you out." I say, "I will." I ain't never called her. HB: [inaudible OB: Now, they'll come, now, some of them come and say if you need me let me know. I’ll come over. [inaudible]. I: Are you speaking of black people? Bryson and Bryson 21 OB: Some of 'em colored. I: Will promise to do something for you and then not do it. OB: Never come. There was a lady come and told Hattie she'd come and get her… take her clothes to wash, wouldn’t take a dime, and that woman ain't never been back here no more. HB: [inaudible] that corn, and whoever shucks it, we'd have a man come around there, and Mama'd break [inaudible] a whole lot of [a hole out of?] the sweetbread and lashes [inaudible] bread I called 'em--and then tell me whoever cut down to that can of liquid, they're in business. OB: Have them corn shuckin's that… I: Oh, corn shuckin? HB: Yeah. And we don't have that no more I: Now what did you do with the corn? HB: We shucked the corn and [pick] it in the field and then we sent it to a mill and ground it up, made corn meal out of it, used to and keep pigs [inaudible]. I: But it was like a party, wasn't it? Is that what you were saying? HB: Yeah. I: It was work but it was fun. HB: Yes, it was fun then. I: Because several of you got together to do this? HB: Yes. I: What other times do you remember like that, besides corn shuckin'? OB: Ah, seemed like nothing won't come to my mind 'bout something, I don't know what it is. HB: when John Powell] was sick, the way up on a mountain. There were old railroad switch and somebody up there OB: Reverend Terry that preacher out here. HB: Yes, Milton [Preegie]. They all went over there and took his hole down to it. He'd had ole churh began took that churh and hitched and moved it down to a house off the Mountain. You Bryson and Bryson 22 don't hear tell of that no more. You ain't got enough wood and one thing you can touch down there all winter [inaudible]. OB: Yes. It was Ms. Walter Reverend Terry I belong to that lodge out here and gotta move that day. I: Now what lodge is that? OB: It's the Mason Lodge up up there. I: Oh, you're a Mason? OB: And we went out there. a wolf musta, kinda got back down. We moved that morning got Abe starin' up and come home with that man all that day. Three of us Mason did. We shared a big dinner and just kinda went up there and come on back. The preacher drove the steer. I: He was what? OB: The preacher, Mr. Preacher, color, Terry, he me and Monk cut the wood and he snaked it down this here. I: Oh, he snaked it down the river? OB: Down the hill. Got up mountain but [boat] up red 'n blue. I: How you snake it down the hill? OB: Tie the chain around that log to a steer 'at had horns so it just did the haulin'. . .. I: So you hooked it to a steer to bring it off of the mountain? OB: Uh-huh. We cut wood all that day up there and shared a good dinner. Got ready to leave we left. Even sick we told that [inaudible] That was.. now only come to tell you that peace wouldn't help you, not around here. I: Do you remember hog killing time? HB: I [had to dress] three pigs [inaudible] OB: Hog killing? Lord, I've killed hundreds of 'em I guess. I: How did you kill the hogs? OB: Shoot 'em with a rifle. I: You shot him with a rifle. Bryson and Bryson 23 OB: Right between his eyes there. I: Right between the eyes. OB: And that [logger] knife, stick it right through there, let the blood out. Chuckle. I: Ech. HB: Sometimes OB: Lord, I've killed lots of 'em. I: After you killed him and let the blood out, what did you do? OB: Then we got a barrel of water and scald the hair off of 'em and scrape 'em. Then we hang 'em up by--take out his insides. I: Uhh. OB: [Chuckle]. I: Now, did you do this by yourself or was this a group of men? OB: I have done it by myself, if it ain't too big. I: But usually a group of men will do this? OB: Weren't many of 'em who killed around here, 'bout two or three of us. I killed 'bout two weeks every day for people. I: So you've gone around the community killing hogs? OB: Yeah, they'll always wait on me two or three days. They'd pay me, then they'd bring me home and give me a big load of meat extra. I: So you got meat in addition to pay. OB: Uh-huh. I: How did you preserve the meat, how you keep it from…? OB: I'd just salt it down. I: Salted it? Bryson and Bryson 24 OB: Uh-huh. Pepper. Always had us a hog and killed mine, and he just… it'd take till about the spring of the year. I: But you had a smokehouse. Is that what they called it? OB: Uh-huh, yeah. HB: Yeah. I some out of the smokehouse. I: How long was it after you built your house that you had water inside? OB: Oh, it was ... HB: Oh, I guess it was about two year. It was about two years, I guess. I: So what did you do until you had water on the inside? OB: I carried water from Tom Pickenson's well up where the house is. I: From a well? OB: Hattie has a daddy, he just had water out there. I got him to let me hook on to his town line and I hooked my water myself then, draw from his line out there. It was his line. 'Course I had to get permission of the town before There's a town took away If he'd said no, he'd have to hook me up to that main line down there. Been here ever since. I: Well, you know how to do quite a few things, don't you? Is there anything else that I haven't asked you that you would like to share with us? OB: I believe that's about all I know. I: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Ode.
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Oral Histories of Western North Carolina

These interviews document the communities and culture of Western North Carolina. Topics include the building of the Fontana Dam, the history of WCU, stories from local veterans, integration of the...

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